A short walk in Winchester

A cold but pleasant day out at Winchester today. I went there to watch one of my sons play rugby, but as kick-off wasn't for an hour or so (which actually turned out to be 2.5 hours later) I decided to make the most of the beautiful weather and walk the short distance from the rugby club to the Cathedral and the old town beyond.

Winchester Cathedral

Gateway near Winchester Cathedral

I had explored the immediate area around the Cathedral before, but had never ventured much further beyond. As I made my way down Kingsgate Street, I passed some beautiful town houses, with people leaving them in their Sunday Best, probably on their way to church, or perhaps to venture to the shops which were about to open for Sunday trading. The birds, which no matter how much I looked I could not see, were singing away in the trees and bushes. It was a perfect day and I could have kept walking for hours. Unfortunately I was time-constrained so forced myself to turn around just before reaching the railway track. On looking at the map when I returned home, I was actually quite glad I did turn back at the point I did, as otherwise I would have ended up within earshot of the motorway.

I spotted a couple of nice looking pubs and deli's during the walk, so this has also been added to my ever increasing "to visit" list.

    

Bike rides and bubble baths

I'm almost coming to the end of the half-term break that I decided to take off. We've been to Shaftesbury for the day, visited granny, been up to the Picasso and Migrations exhibitions in the Tate Britain, and otherwise just generally chilled and relaxed. I did managed to get out on the mountain bike a couple of times, and have just returned from a pleasant 15 miler today. It was quite grey and overcast, and the 2 pictures below don't really do justice to the scenery ... even the snowdrops on the right-hand side of the path in the first one look a bit muted.

A bridleway near Great Gasson Copse, Hampshire

A bridleway near Great Gasson Copse, Hampshire

Musically this week has been a bit quiet. I have listened to the odd radio 6 broadcast, and whilst not doing that I listened to Peter Hammill - And Close As This, and by complete contrast Coil - And The Ambulance Died in His Arms.

I finally finished reading On the Slow Train and have now just started reading Eleven Minutes Late: A Train Journey to the Soul of Britain. In fact, I'm now beginning to feel a bit cold after having arrived home all hot and sweaty from my bike ride, so it's time to indulge in a bubble bath and read another chapter.

    

Hyde Park in the snow

This week I spent three days away from home, working up in London. Work was hectic as usual, involving even more random requests than usual. There was however the added bonus of a couple of social occasions to ease the pain and to let off some steam. To clear my head on the Friday morning I decided to walk some of the way to my off site meeting, and ventured out across a beautiful, snowy Hyde Park. Hard to believe that this tranquil scene is in fact in central London.

Snow in Hyde Park, London, Feb 10th 2012

Last night I ended up working until 2am to clear out my inbox and to make sure those in the office next week have minimal reasons to contact me whilst I'm on leave next week. Fingers-crossed it will work as I really need a break after being "cheated" out of my Christmas break by man-flu. Plans for next week will depend on the weather but will hopefully involve a couple of day trips, catching up on some reading, hopefully including my latest purchase Eleven Minutes Late now that I've just finished On The Slow Train. The latter was a great read but made me feel very sad, and to be honest at times quite angry, that what was once a fantastic rail network of incredible engineering, architecture and spleandour is now merely (sub)functional, expensive and overcrowded. The book does describe some routes where you can get the feel of railway travel in days gone by, so a few day trips or weekends away to add to my ever growing "to do" list.

    

More tales from the (bike) saddle

I've now managed to get out on the mountain bike 4 times this year already. All 4 rides have been modest 12 - 15 milers but enjoyable nevertheless. This weekend's trip took me up through Penwood towards Bughclere, Old Burghclere, up on to the Whitway and home via Highclere. This picture was taken on a bridleway just outside Old Burghclere, and there's a deceptively steep hill just out of view.

Bridleway near Old Burghclere, Hampshire

I have finally finished David Byrne's excellent Bicycle Diaries and thought it was quite appropriate that soon after I had a good pedestrian vs. bad cyclist incident in London last week, that I read the chapter about the rules of the road. My incident involved me crossing a pedestrian crossing at which the green man was displaying, i.e. my right of way. I was just about to cross when someone on a fold up bike came speeding through what, for him, would have been a red light. My cry was half chastising him for his error, and half surprise that he nearly ran me down. Instead of an acknowledgement of error on his part I was greeted with a gruff "f*** off". I wasn't particularly shaken by the event, but very angry regarding this man's ignorance and arrogance. It's these sort of people who give other law abiding cyclists a bad name.

Fortunately I was en route to Notting Hill Gate where I rewarded myself with some CD retail therapy, picking up a couple Thing of the Past and Errant Charm bu Vetiver, Exile by Charalambides, along with CDs by Espers, Roedelius and Brian Eno

Anyway, having finished the David Byrne book, I am about to move on to a book I bought just before Christmas On the Slow Train. I've got a few trips to London this week so will hopefully manage to make some good progress during the train journeys.

    

Bicycles, books and music

My Christmas man-flu is unbelievably still lingering but at least it's nowhere near as bad as it was. Going back to work on Tuesday was a huge shock to the system, but fortunately I worked the first 2 days from home, before working in London for 2 days at the end of the week. Whilst in London I had intended to go CD shopping one evening after work but alas I ended up working late and by the time I got back to my hotel I needed food, and after that I had more work to do. However, I'm up in London again next week so hopefully will have another opportunity. I've also got a list of other places to visit this year but need to wait until the evenings are lighter for most of them.

I managed another modest 12 mile bike ride today, but this time on my own. I followed pretty much the same route as the one I did last week with my daughter, but added on a small loop around Highclere Church before heading home.

Decision point

I wasn't in the mood for the uphill trek to Ashmansworth so opted for the route to East End instead, where I was rewarded with my first sighting of a fox this year. Interesting over the last year I think I have seen more foxes in London that I have out in the country where I live. I guess the dustbins of the rich and famous are the star attraction.

Last night we watched the Inspector Morse prequel, Endeavour, which I though was well written and superbly acted. I'm hoping there will be a series based on the success of this. I also caught an hour or so of the Old Grey Whistle Test last night, featuring some brilliant 70's music from the quirkiness of Captain Beefheart to the pre-punk sounds of Patti Smith playing a track from here 1975 debut album Horses, and Dr Feelgood, and through to the post-punk/new wave era with The Talking Heads performing their seminal Psycho Killer, The Jam, Blondie and The Specials.

My reading is, as always, very slow and I'm still working my way through David Byrne's excellent Bicycle Diaries. In the book, he's now in San Francisco which, fingers-crossed, will be this year's summer holiday destination.

    

First bike ride of the New Year

I have been suffering with man-flu since before Christmas, and today was the first day I have really felt like doing anything vaguely energetic. And apart from the illness, December has not really seen me doing much other than eating and drinking, so it was high time to address that. The weather was cold and crisp as I set off with my 11 year old daughter on an 11 miler around West Berkshire/Hampshire border, taking in West Woodhay, East Woodhay, East End and Highclere (home of TV's Downton Abbey). The bird life was wonderful and we saw a nuthatch, buzzard and various tits and finches. We stuck to the roads as the bridleways were very muddy and wet, but fortunately there was hardly any traffic around, so all-in-all the perfect day for a ride, and hopefully a sign of rides to come later in the year.

Looking towards West Woodhay

West Woodhay Church

    

Stop Making Sense

As the Talking Heads soundtrack plays in my head as I read my way through David Byrne's excellent Bicycle Diaries, I am inspired to listen to some of his solo material that I've probably not played for several years. The first challenge was that much of it is on vinyl, and some has unfortunately been lost, so I've embarked on a rediscovery fest and downloaded a much extended version of the first solo album I heard, Knee Plays. I remember exactly where I was when I first heard this - in a second hand record shop in the market in Swansea. I don't remember the name of the shop and I have no idea if the shop is still there (I hope so) but as a student it provided me with some great music that the normal chain stores of the day simply didn't stock.

I also seem to have some holes in my David Byrne back catalogue where releases came out which completely passed me by. Having been a massive fan of My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, I was aware of his recent collaboration with Brian Eno but was somewhat nervous in that I didn't believe it could ever better their first one. I finally took the plunge yesterday and downloaded Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. Very pleased to say that my fears were not realised, and although it's nothing at all like Bush of Ghosts, it is still nevertheless a fantastic album ... and it also made me realise that I had in fact already heard some of these tracks when I saw him play live in Oxford a few years ago ... think I'll have to put that one down to old age.

So what next? Probably time to reacquaint myself with Songs From the Catherine Wheel.